Page 14 of How to Entice a Fiend

“You know how to spell ‘I’!”

“Let’s see… I-E-E-E!”

“Funny,” I say as she grins at me before properly writing the letter.

I shake my head. “In cursive.”

“You never said I had to write in cursive! You know cursive hates me!”

“I really don’t care,” I tell her. “Don’t forget, you’re the one who wanted to do schoolwork today.”

“Urgh.” She groans but begins writing in cursive until I see that she’s got the F wrong.

“F is like this,” I say as I grab her pen.

I still as I sense someone at the door a few seconds before Orin does. “Looks like we have company. I love company,” he declares. “Maybe it’s my wife. She did say she was stopping by sometime soon, but that could be like in a day or two months. She’s absolutely going to love meeting Marcus.”

“Oh, hell no,” Rylee says. “That man is scary. Nobody gonna love meeting him.”

“What did I say about cussing?” I ask. “And did you forget how to speak properly?”

“There is a proper time and place, and speaking about that scary vampire is the proper time and placefor sure.”

I ignore her as Orin starts for the door while I regret coming hereagain. I decide that I don’t need anyone knowing we’re here, so I scoop Rylee up and head farther into the house to hide. It takes me a minimal amount of time to discern that the newcomer is Mads, the council member from last night.

“We’re going to be silent as can be,” I murmur as I sink into a closet and pull the door shut while I hold Rylee against me and listen to Mads greet Orin.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to get to meet you, Orin! My boss, Vivian, speaks highly of you. She told me she’s had somewildnights with your wife.”

“Wild is an understatement,” Orin says. “Pleasure to meet you. Vivian has… spoken of you.”

“Highly, I’m sure,” Mads says.

“Yeah… of course.”

“I actually came to speak to Ender. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a word or two or even three if we’re feeling a bit spicy!”

“I think he wouldn’t enjoy anything more,” Orin says, confirming that he is also out to get me.

Mads laughs. “Where might I find him?”

“No idea. How about this? If you can find him, you can talk to him.”

“Ooh, like hide-and-seek? I’m game,” Mads says, and I feel quite confident that there’s no way this irritating man could find me… until I remember that I have a seven-year-old by my side. A seven-year-old who immediately sneezes… like why the fuck does a vampire need to sneeze?

“Whoops,” she says, like maybe the sneeze wasn’t enough.

The closet door is yanked open and Mads beams in at me. How humiliating is this? I’m honestly not sure if it could get more humiliating. I should have left the house. Or I should have just ditched the sneezing vampire and left as I had planned to do.

“Good morning!” Mads greets us, like any part of this could be good.

“How did you find me?” I ask. “Not… in the closet; obviously I’m aware how you could find me in the closet. At Orin’s.”

“I said ‘Whoops,’” Rylee says, like that fixes everything. Instead, I put a hand on her head and guide her out of the way so I can leave the closet since we’re not having this conversation in this embarrassing position.

“Easy peasy! You still have Claude’s phone which I tracked here,” Mads says. “I’m good, aren’t I? I should be a detective. I think I would look ultra fine with a magnifying glass and a trench coat.”

With that, I decide I’m done. I start walking away, but Rylee has no interest in following me. She was abducted by council members who wanted to do tests on her not that long ago yet here she is, dying to get to talk to the man.

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